[SECC] This weekend's contests

[John Laney]

Hello all:

I am including SEDXC members on my reminder message about this weekend't 
contests, since this weekend will include CQ 160 CW and SEDXC members 
have supported the CQ 160 meter contests for many year and its members 
still sponsor 11 of the plaques that are offered for the two contests.

1.  CQ 160 CW.  This will be the second year run under the new times and 
time limit.  It is the whole 48-hour period from 00 UTC Jan 24 to 2359 
UTC Jan 25.  Single ops are limited to 30 hours maximum.  This means 
that there is still significant activity in this contest on Sunday 
afternoon.  W4AN should be guest op at W8JI single op again.  KU8E and 
K4BAI had stated they would be doing a small M/S from KU8E's QTH, but 
that has not worked out and we will each be operating from our own homes 
as time permits.  Exchange is RST and state or province for US and 
Canada and RST and prefix or country abbreviation for DX.  You must fill 
in the prefix or country abbreviation to obtain credit for the QSO even 
if the prefix is sent only as part of the call by the DX station.  Enter 
CM for Cuba to avoid confusion with COlorado.  Multipliers include us 
states plus the District of Columbia, 14 Canadian areas (defined on the 
website and in the magazine, DXCC plus WAE countries.  MM stations count 
for QSOs, but not for multipliers.  The rules do not state what exchange 
MM stations should give, so I guess you log whatever they send, which 
might be "MM" or perhaps "R1" etc for the three ITU regions.

Note new address for e-mail log submissions.  Also, K4JRB, has advised 
that in the Cabrillo format the contest must appear as"  CQ-160-CW and 
the category must appear as SINGLE-OP 160M HIGH (or LOW or QRP).  Be 
aware that some contest software doesn't automatically create these 
lines correctly, so check your Cabrillo file before submission and use a 
text editor to correct the lines if they do not follow this format.

2.  ARRL VHF Sweepstakes.  1900 UTC Jan 24 to 0400 UTC Jan 26.  6 meters 
and higher.  Exchange grid squares.  Usually you can find your grid 
square on Buckmaster if you don't know what it is.  For example:  mine 
is EM72.  See http://www.arrl.org/contests.

3.  REF Contest CW.  I have been unable to find a current English 
language URL for this one.  Jan 24 0600 UTC to Jan 25 1800 UTC.  You may 
work only French and French possession stations.  Calls begin with F or 
TK, TM, TO.  Sometimes there are good DX catchs available, but most 
stations will be in mainland France.  Exchange:  Send RST plus serial #. 
   French area stations send RST plus Dpt number (two digits) for France 
and Corsica and overseas French stations send RST plus own prefix. 
Exception:  F6REF HQ station sends RST plus 00.  The URL given by the 
ARRL Rate Sheet is http://www.ref-union.org/concours/, but I couldn't 
find the rules in English there.  80 through 10 M in the IARU contest 
subbands.  (I think this means no contest QSOs above 14060 and maybe 3560.)

4.  BARTG 2004 Sprint Contest.  This is a RTTY contest sponsored by a 
U.K. group.  1200 UTC Jan 24 to 1200 UTC Jan 25.  Only one band change 
allowed in any 5-minute period.  80 through 10 M. Exchange:  serial # 
only.  Multipliers are DXCC countries plus JA, W, VE, and VK areas 
counted only once in the contest, not per band.  Note that US stations 
MUST sign / in the area where they are operating in order to make the 
multiplier for US areas meaningful (e.g., K2UFT/4).  Score one point per 
QSO.  Score is QSOs x mults x continents worked (max 6).  Cabrillo logs 
are required and logs must be e-mailed.  See: 
http://www.bartg.demon.co.uk/.

Hope everyone has a lot of fun and a lot of QSOs this weekend.  My major 
emphasis will be on CQ 160 CW even though I cannot hope to place, much 
less win.  I will also check in on the REF CW contest as time permits 
and the ARRL VHF contest if 6 meters opens.

73,


John, K4BAI.